Research Methods for Public Administration: Practical Uses for Better Decision-Making is an updated edition of the very popular ICMA publication, Statistics for Public Administration. It remains a book primarily focused on research design and basic applied statistics.

This third edition expands on prior editions with new material on gathering and analyzing qualitative data, such as interviews and focus groups. However, its primary purpose is not to help public managers master statistical theory; rather, its purpose is to demonstrate how statistics can help public professionals do their jobs better.

The overall goal of this book is to help make current and future public administrators educated consumers of information.

ICMA recently sat down with author Maureen Berner to discuss the data advantage for local governments and the latest book release. Berner serves as professor of Public Administration and Government at the School of Government, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and is the author of ICMA’s newest publication, Research Methods for Local Government: From Data to Better Decision-Making.

What makes this book different from a traditional statistics book? 

"A traditional statistics textbook usually places a heavy emphasis on the mathematical details. This book cuts to the essential information needed to apply statistical concepts in an easy and applied way, and, I hope, in a way that any official can relate to. This edition also emphasizes going beyond statistics to show how research methods overall, including focus groups and interviews, can be used to help administrators make decisions, using clear, simple examples. Research is not just about numbers. It’s about answering questions."

Why do public administrators need research skills if they aren't researchers? 

"You might not need to be an expert, but you need to speak the same language. Public administrators are the ones who have to make decisions for the communities they serve.  They have to understand data and analysis enough to tell good information from bad, and what is helpful and relevant and what is not."

How can local governments become more data-informed without becoming data-obsessed? 

"The key to being data-informed without being data-obsessed is to focus on why you are gathering the data in the first place. What is your question? Start first with what decision needs to be made and what information will most directly and clearly help you make that decision.  Pursuing any and all data related to a problem without a clear focus is like casting a wide net when fishing. That key bit of information may be there somewhere but probably comes along with an awful lot of garbage. Focus on what you need to know, rather than what you can gather."

What are the top three lasting skills that readers will take away from this book?  

1. "First, you’ll gain the ability to ask a clear and focused research question without getting lost in the numbers.
2. Second, when faced with a lot of data, qualitative or quantitative, you’ll develop the ability to quickly focus on differences (if any exist).
3. Third, you’ll be able to move on and assess if those differences (or lack of difference) make a tangible, substantive difference.
4. And I would add a fourth skill - the most important: you’ll see how to confidently apply what you have discovered when making a decision."

If you could tell us your favorite part of this book, what would it be? 

"This publication follows the story of Chuck, the city manager of Council Top. While I used made-up names for the book, the town is real and so are the people in the story. The story is made of bits and pieces of real life in local government in a small town, at least from what I experienced. I wanted to show how research methods and statistics are not abstract ideas in a book. They, like the local government leaders who are reading the book, are part of every community."

Research Methods for Local Government is now available in digital format from the ICMA Online Bookstore. Get your copy and more information here.